Monthly Archive

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve started to blog. A little before that, I didn’t even know what a blog was LOL! I can’t remember when I figured out what a blog was or whose blog was the first I read. I remember starting one because I wanted to see if putting things down in writing would help me get going on my business. And it did.

Honestly, I’m not a journal writer except for the moments when I was young and going thru some drama with a guy and I needed to put feelings on paper. Once everything is peachy again, the journal writing stops. So I’m a little surprised I’ve been able to keep this up. It’s actually a little harder to write about almost ‘nothing’ but that’s my life right now as a mom. Nothing is good. Sure there are challenges and frustrations here and there. It all goes with trying to start some kind of business with a toddler around. If anyone says being a parent is not frustrating at times, they’re either lying or a much better person than me, or BOTH! 😛

Anyway, I hope to keep this going as long as I can. It’s nice to look back and personally measure my progress and fun to read others’ blogs. It’ll be neat to see where things are in another year!

“…..who everyone takes their inspiration from – an artist of traditional media, multimedia, craft world, living or dead…..”

“Bluejay Bathing” by Charles Harper

It was really difficult to think who I’m inspired by. There are so many artists in history whose work I “ooh” and “aah” over. After mulling it over I find that I’m consistently drawn to mid-century modernism. I just love the simplicity and clean lines of that era. One particular artist that I think of is Charles Harper. What a guy: he’s in his 80s and still producing work! I love his prints… the whimsical design, his use of color and negative space. Seeing his work makes me want to learn how to screenprint or break out my block printing supplies again.

but we’re about to cave in on getting a car. Since January we’ve had one car and it’s been okay. We really like having the extra space in the garage although we’re doing nothing with it. Just nice to know it’s there.

Lately it’s been pretty tough waking up to drive my husband to work. I only take him 2-3 days, but it seems like he’s leaving earlier and earlier LOL. We leave by 6:45 and at get there by 7am (but nobody at his work really shows up till 9am). I keep asking the same question “why do we have to leave so early??”. Hahaha at his old job, my husband used to get to work by 9:30 and leave at 3:00… so this is definitely a 180 for him. I guess it’s because he has a family now. heh

His last job he had a company car, so we sold one of our cars because in our neighborhood, you can’t park your car in the street. Such a dumb rule, but whatever.

There’s a few people who are thinking of selling their cars but then when we talk to them… it’s like “well… let me put another 15K miles on my car”. ahh well.

Anyway, he is asking a friend who has car dealership connections to see if we can get a good price. The conversation made me chuckle.husband: …so can you run a few numbers for me?
friend: dude, what’s wrong with you. You want numbers on a corolla and a BMW?
husband: (kiddingly) yeah, and before i forget … a bike!
friend: why don’t you just get a Mercedes?

Riiiiiight a Mercedes. LOL. I wondered what happened to us trying to get a super cheapie car? That was the 1st I heard about a German car. As for me, I was trying to hold out till the hybrids get affordable. I bet once we buy a car, there’ll be friends finally wanting to sell their car.

I know this post seems like it has NOTHING to do with paper… but if we did have a car, I think I might be able to visit vendors or look for supplies. So it kind of relates… Plus having a car might make me feel less nuts about feeling cooped up in the house. 😎

There’s a new blog named Asian Buzz that showcases businesses run by Asians or neat Asian-inspired products, resources, events, etc. It’s really for everybody so stop by when you get a chance.

I was asked to be a contributor by Lilie from APlanet4Creation. Thanks Lilie! I just wrote my first post on Asian Buzz about TwinkieChan. She makes the coolest food-inspired scarves ever! See? (photo is from TwinkieChan’s gallery)

I’ll be on the lookout for neat designers, etc to contribute over at Asian Buzz. Does this mean I can even sneak in a Keanu Reeves post just once? LOL.

Nothing much going on today. Doing as much as I can to stock up on inventory… because I like to be prepared 🙂 I thought I was going to be less busy once the website is up, but it seems like the work is neverending. Forms, promos, getting the word out there and other things I didn’t think about.
Yay, I signed up recently for a merchant account so any day now I’ll be adding that as another payment option for those who are weary of Paypal.

Do you ever get odd search phrases that lead to your blog? I haven’t figured out how to put stats on here, but I suppose that doesn’t matter much since WordPress has its own built-in stats that I’m still discovering. (Altho I miss my statcounter!) My stat page listed a few search terms/phrases that made me say ‘huh?’. So I wonder when the people with those search terms get here, are they disappointed? LOL

some terms:
“i have the hots for my mom”
“when i eat hamburger i break out in hives”
“double propeller wallpaper”
“is it normal for a guy to be nervous”
“how to plan for my 18th birthday”

You are going to live on this absolutely amazing island with stunning surroundings, a white beach, magnificent trees, waterfalls, no poisonous insect on it (hahaha, so no spiders or ugly thingies)…it’s a real paradise this island. Rich in food and water as well, so no worries on that front either.

You are allowed to bring only three items from your studio.
Now: what would they be and what would you do with them and what do you imagine you might create????

(I’m assuming that I have my husband and son with me on the island too. I’m also assuming that I will return home at some point.)
I’d be bringing my camera. Gotta capture those memories. I’ll also be sure that I have a super-duper long lasting battery and huge memory stick in there. 😎
Second, I’d be bringing my sketchbook with pencil attached to it. I don’t sketch nearly enough, if at all these days.
Third item I’d be bringing is my linoleum block cutter. I’ve been wanting to do block prints in forever. I know I can’t bring inks since it’d be more than 3 things. BUT… on an island full of trees I’ll figure out a way to make wood blocks from those trees. I can carve images on the blocks or maybe find some hard thick bark (I can dream) then bring those home and make really pretty prints! 🙂

Go check out Studio Friday to see what others would bring to the desert island.

I almost didn’t do this week’s Studio Friday CREATIVE ROOTS (my mom). After reading several inspiring posts, I had to write about my mom.
In my mom’s era and in a different culture, art and creativity were not considered important. But my mom showed her crafty skills by making all my school uniforms. I had several because I remember some schoolmates making comments like “another dress again??” LOL. One time a girl who sat behind me, thought I had too many dresses so she flicked black ink from her quill pen all over the back of my white uniform!! Oh well… my mom just made another one. 🙂

In the US, when I was 9 my class had a contest on drawing a flag and my mom “helped” me. (She drew it.) We got 3rd place (I’m sure the teacher knew I didn’t draw it). But to this day, I can’t believe how well my mom can draw even though I’ve never seen her do it. Many times I wonder if my mom had grown up in a different time or culture how far she could’ve taken her skills or what she would be doing now. So this post is for my mom.

I had mentioned before that there was a group of girls who started a babysitting business called “The babysitter’s club” in my neighborhood. Too cute. A few months back, they came by and gave us a flyer of their services.

I decided I want to test them out to see how they are. If they do work out, it’d be great for *when* I have to fill orders, design or maybe do a quick errand. I called about 4 numbers on the flyer and I got what sounded like an 7-yr-old saying “oh I’m helping my aunt clean right now I promise to call right back” (they never called back), a VM with rap music, another VM that really didn’t make me want to leave a message, and a hang up after I asked if they still have the “babysitter’s club”. Well so much for young entrepreneurship. I was so proud of them too… walking door to door with such a convincing speech. Ehh what was I expecting? They’re just kids.

Sigh… how disappointing, they were kind of like a light at the end of the tunnel for when I need a break. Hmm… now I gotta look for plan B, whatever that is. Looks like it’s gonna be just me in the daytime for a while.

I really wanted to open my online shop August 1 but have decided to wait till later next week. I just want to make sure I’ve got enough inventory at hand and to order more supplies for the long run. (Am I being too hopeful here? I know summer is suppose to be slow in sales :)) Also, hubby’s mom will be visiting this week so I’ll have limited use of the ‘office space’. Usually we have Little J sleep with us when visitors are in town but I think he’s starting to get used to his room.

Also I wanted to get feedback from some of my close friends about the site but I didn’t get much response. Guess I better email a few more friends. I know that I need more products but I gotta launch. There’s always time to add more stuff later I always say. The important step is to just start!